Pressure on inventory has contributed to another month of record-breaking low property sales – 745, less than a quarter of October’s 10-year average of 3,210.
“Once again – it’s anyone’s guess what our sales numbers would be like had we been in a market with a historically average number of homes for sale,” said Victoria Real Estate Board president David Langlois in a release. “We continue to see record-breaking low levels of homes for sale and with continuing competition for homes, we see pricing pressure persist.”
October 2021’s property sales were 24.7 per cent fewer than the 990 sold in 2020. Even condos weren’t spared, with 249 units sold – 18.1 per cent less than last year.
“The only solution to our current market is to create more supply, and creating supply isn’t something that happens overnight,” Langlois said.
The total of 1,036 active listings on the books at the end of October 2021 was just over half the number (51 per cent) available for sale at the same time last year.
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“So we need to make a commitment to build in the coming years. That takes cooperation. It takes public acceptance of increased density in some areas, the ability for builders to staff and supply their developments and for investors to be able to make their plans a reality within a reasonable timeline and at a reasonable cost,” Langlois said.
”We need to continue to focus on densification of our urban areas – the idea of encouraging duplexes and small plexes in neighbourhoods and building up in core areas. Thoughtful densification will allow us to protect our greenspace, leverage existing infrastructure and take advantage of existing amenities.”
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